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The Latest in ShowBiz News

Shia LaBeouf has a new project – ‘The Associate’
Jack Rico
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2008/12/02 at 12:00am

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Shia LaBeouf has a new project – ‘The Associate’

12.2.2008 | By |

Shia LaBeouf has a new project - 'The Associate'

Paramount Pictures has set Shia LaBeouf to play the title role in the bigscreen version of John Grisham‘s upcoming legal thriller “The Associate,” which the studio has just acquired rights to.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing.

LaBeouf will play a student who’s about to graduate from Yale Law School when he’s manipulated into accepting a job at a prestige law firm and given privileged information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

The novel, Grisham’s first legal thriller since 2005’s “The Broker,” will be published in January by Random House.

Grisham’s longtime rep, David Gernert, shopped the book by giving it to four producers. While some felt that lessened the book’s chances to find a suitor in a tight marketplace, the strategy worked.

Par-based Di Bonaventura, who as an exec worked on the Grisham films “A Time to Kill” and “The Client,” received the book in the Middle East, where he and LaBeouf were shooting “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” There, they agreed to do it together.

Deal gives Paramount another LaBeouf vehicle to follow the “Transformers” films, on which the studio partners with DreamWorks. He last starred for the studio in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

"Slumdog" and "Hunger" sweep at the BIFA
Mack Chico
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2008/12/01 at 12:00am

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"Slumdog" and "Hunger" sweep at the BIFA

12.1.2008 | By |

"Slumdog" and "Hunger" sweep at the BIFA

You could be seeing these two films at the upcoming Oscar awards in 2009.

Director Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” about a poor Indian boy who gets a shot at winning millions in a television game show, swept the British Independent Film Awards on Sunday with three prizes.

“Hunger,” artist Steve McQueen‘s widely acclaimed directorial debut, also picked up three awards, followed by Mike Leigh‘s uncharacteristically upbeat “Happy-Go-Lucky,” which took both the best supporting actor and actress prizes.

Slumdog Millionaire won the best British independent film, best director and most promising newcomer categories, the latter going to young actor Dev Patel who played the lead role of Jamal.

The movie has already won rave reviews at film festivals and generated early Oscars buzz.

Also with three awards was Hunger, a hard-hitting film about the final days of IRA prisoner and hunger striker Bobby Sands in 1981.

Sands was played by Michael Fassbender, who won the best actor category, while McQueen was awarded the Douglas Hickox prize for best debut director and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt was honoured for best technical achievement.

Best actress went to Vera Farmiga in “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” and the best screenplay award was won by Martin McDonagh for “In Bruges.”

Alexis Zegerman was named best supporting actress for Happy-Go-Lucky, and Eddie Marsan won the best supporting actor prize for the same film.

“The Escapist” won the best achievement in production award, “Man on Wire” won best documentary, “Soft” won best British short film, and best foreign film went to “Waltz With Bashir,” Ari Folman’s haunting Middle East war animation.

Actor David Thewlis was honoured with the Richard Harris award for outstanding contribution to British film, and Michael Sheen won the Variety award.

‘Four Christmas’ merries in a #1 gift at the box office
Mack Chico
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2008/12/01 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Four Christmas’ merries in a #1 gift at the box office

12.1.2008 | By |

'Four Christmas' merries in a #1 gift at the box office

Thanksgiving weekend movie crowds gobbled up the Reese Witherspoon-Vince Vaughn holiday comedy “Four Christmases,” which premiered at No. 1 with $31.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The film raised its total to $46.7 million since opening Wednesday.

In terms of revenue, it was Hollywood’s second-biggest Thanksgiving period ever. The top 12 movies took in $223.7 million from Wednesday to Sunday, trailing only the $232.2 million haul over 2000.

“Twilight,” which had a huge No. 1 opening the previous weekend, took a steep 62 percent decline from its $69.6 million premiere.

Based on Sunday’s estimates, Disney’s animated “Bolt” had a slight lead on second place with $26.6 million for the weekend, to $26.4 million for “Twilight.”

In San Francisco, Focus Features’ film “Milk,” directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as slain Supervisor Harvey Milk, set a box-office record at the Castro Theatre. From Wednesday through Friday, the single-screen theater grossed $109,440 on “Milk,” breaking the previous three-day record of $50,584 set in May by “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” according to film promoters Terry Hines and Associates.

The film opened nationally on 36 screens, two of which, the Sundance Kabuki and the Embarcadero, didn’t begin showing the film until Friday. “Milk” opened at No. 10 nationwide with $1.4 million in just 36 theaters. The film had a strong average of $38,375 a cinema, compared with $9,571 in 3,310 theaters for “Four Christmases.”

The weekend’s other new wide release, “Australia,” opened at No. 5 with $14.8 million for the weekend and $20 million since premiering Wednesday.

Official snapshot of ‘Nine’ with Penelope Cruz
Jack Rico
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2008/11/27 at 12:00am

Movies

Official snapshot of ‘Nine’ with Penelope Cruz

11.27.2008 | By |

Official snapshot of 'Nine' with Penelope Cruz

The film version is based on the Tony Award winning musical, “Nine,” directed by Academy Award nominated director Rob Marshall (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Chicago”).

Heading the stellar cast are Academy Award winners Daniel Day-Lewis (“There Will Be Blood,” “My Left Foot”), Nicole Kidman (“The Hours”), Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), Judi Dench (“Shakespeare in Love”), and Sophia Loren (“Two Women”); Academy Award nominee Penelope Cruz (“Volver”) and Kate Hudson (“Almost Famous”); and Grammy Award winner Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson. The international cast also includes Ricky Tognazzi, Giuseppe Cederna, Valerio Mastandrea, and Martina Stella.
“Nine” tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini, who faces a personal and professional crisis as he struggles to prepare his latest picture, while balancing the numerous women in his life — his wife, his mistress, his movie star muse, his costume designer, a fashion journalist, a whore from his childhood, and his mother.
The film is being shot in England at Shepperton Studios, and in Italy on location and at Cinecitta Studios in Rome.

The Weinstein Company released the first official photograph of the film 'NINE' starring Penelope Cruz and many other notable of the stage and screen.

 

 

Salma Hayek returns to primetime TV
Mack Chico
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2008/11/27 at 12:00am

Movies

Salma Hayek returns to primetime TV

11.27.2008 | By |

Salma Hayek returns to primetime TV

There’s nothing but love between Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek, who recently shot a five episode arc on “30 Rock” where the 42-year-old beauty will be playing Jack Donaghy’s love interest.

“She was literally the most fabulous woman that I’ve ever worked with,” Baldwin, 50, told People Magazine.
Ditto, according to Hayek. “We had such a great time!” she said at the CNN Heroes event on Saturday, “I love Alec to death. He energizes me … because he’s so talented. He really, truly inspires me.”
“This is the gift that Alec gave me,” she said of the wrap, “just for being his girlfriend for five episodes. I feel like he’s coming with me tonight!”
Check out some of the pics of her Salma (sans daughter) caught idling by in Manhattan.

Salma Hayek en '30 Rock'

 

Salma Hayek con Alec Baldwin

Transporter 3
Alex Florez
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2008/11/25 at 12:00am

Reviews

Transporter 3

11.25.2008 | By |

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material.
Release Date: 2008-11-26
Starring: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: France
Official Website: http://www.letransporteur3-lefilm.com/

Go to our film page

Transporter 3

Let’s be frank (no pun intended). This review really isn’t needed. 

The latest installment of the ‘Transporter’ series is everything you expect it to be: one ridiculous action sequence after another with a senseless romantic plot sandwiched in between.  But who says that’s a bad thing?

Frank Martin (Jason Statham), a former Special Forces officer and now a highly skilled courier for the underworld world, has been pressured into ‘transporting’ Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev, a top Ukrainian politician, all across Europe.  But things get pretty ugly for him when he has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, the special agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and his unruly passenger.  If you haven’t seen the first two films, you’ll quickly pick up on its simple premise. 

Oh yes, one other matter of hilarious complication. On this particular run, Frank is forced to wear a high tech bracelet which is programed to explode if he gets too far from his Audi S8.  And so he speed races through Europe stopping only to battle dozens of henchmen that are on his tail using his masterful kung fu skills – all within 50 feet of his car, of course.

If nothing else, Transporter 3 is hysterical. The implausibility of all the stunts should be enough to keep you entertained for a couple of hours. And the fact that it takes itself so seriously makes it even funnier. If you’ve seen ‘Crank’ (my personal favorite Statham film), I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. 
 
It is what it is.  A kung fu movie with fast cars and a British accent.

Now we all know the effects a big turkey dinner can have. So if you’re looking for a film to watch on Thursday night, perhaps ‘Transporter 3’ is a better choice than the 3 hour epic which also opens this weekend.

 

Clint Eastwood retires from acting!
Mack Chico
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2008/11/25 at 12:00am

Movies

Clint Eastwood retires from acting!

11.25.2008 | By |

Clint Eastwood retires from acting!

The Dirty Harry star says he has no plans to appear in films again after starring in Gran Torino, a drama about a racist veteran of the Korean War.

“That will probably do it for me as far as acting is concerned,” said the 78-year-old, who stressed he had no plans to stop directing films.

“You always want to quit while you are ahead,” he said. “You don’t want to be like a fighter who stays too long in the ring until you’re not performing at your best.”

His performance in Gran Torino, which is released in Britain in February and which he also directed, has already been tipped as worthy of an Oscar. The drama revolves around the relationship between a disgruntled war veteran and his young neighbour, an Asian American teenager who tries to steal his prized possession, a 1972 Gran Torino.

Eastwood worked as a petrol pump attendant, a bar-room piano player and a lumberjack before becoming an actor, where his 1959 western TV series Rawhide turned him into a household name and he was cast by Sergio Leone in the cowboy classic A Fistful of Dollars.

But his film direction now earns him his greatest acclaim. In the New Year he will direct The Human Factor, a drama about the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted by South Africa, with Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela.

“Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days,” he said.

However a friend of Eastwood said he would never rule out an acting comeback for the veteran star:

“If something comes along that attracts his attention or demands his involvement and he is still able to consider acting in a picture then who knows? Gran Torino was such a movie.

“But that is not his priority and he is not seeking an acting role,” the friend said.

Australia
Alex Florez
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2008/11/24 at 12:00am

Reviews

Australia

11.24.2008 | By |

Rated: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language.
Release Date: 2008-11-26
Starring: Baz Lurhmann, Ronald Harwood
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA, Australia
Official Website: http://australiamovie.com/

Go to our film page

Australia

With ‘Moulin Rouge!’, visionary filmmaker Baz Lurhmann finished his ‘Red Curtain Trilogy’ (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo+Juliet are the other two) – a series of stylized and highly choreographed retelling of stories we’re all pretty familiar with. 

Australia however, Lurhmann’s latest film, is not only a departure in style and content but in ambition as well.  Let’s just say this is Lurhmann’s ‘Gone with the Wind’.   A near three hour epic no one other than himself could have directed. 

But Lurhmann fans need not fret.  There is still plenty of singing (no, it’s not quite a musical) and borderline corniness to make your time worthwhile. 

The romantic action adventure sets itself in a country on the explosive brink of World War II.  In it, an English aristocrat named Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) travels down under, where she meets a rough hewn local (Hugh Jackman) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited.  On this journey however, she finds herself caring for an enchanting young orphan named Nullah (brilliantly played by Brandon Walters), a half-Aboriginal, half-Caucasian boy adrift in a segregated society that treats him as an outcast.

And that’s precisely where the strength of the film lies. The story, narrated by the boy himself, is most powerful when it confronts Australia’s horrifying past.  Yet Lurhmann cautiously tries to abstain from the plight of the Australian aborigines in the 1940s.  A deeper exploration of the historical context in which it set its love story, would have served it well. Instead the film flirts with a magical realism that is mawkishly sentimental.

As an action film there are certainly some riveting sequences which prove that Lurhmann can direct more than mere dance numbers.  And though the accents are a bit difficult to navigate past, the performances are solid as well.  But in the end, it’s the long running time and the lack of focus in the screenplay that do the film in.

 

George Lopez to team up with Chan in "Spy"
Mack Chico
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2008/11/24 at 12:00am

Movies

George Lopez to team up with Chan in "Spy"

11.24.2008 | By |

George Lopez to team up with Chan in "Spy"

George Lopez and Billy Ray Cyrus have joined Jackie Chan in “The Spy Next Door,” a comedy shooting in Albuquerque, N.M.

Chan’s character is asked to baby-sit his neighbor’s children and winds up having to protect them from secret agents after one of the kids accidentally downloads a code.

Lopez is a CIA agent who might not be all that he appears; Cyrus is another agent. Amber Valletta is the kids’ mom, while Katherine Boecher plays a Russian underworld operative. Brian Levant is directing for indie financier Relativity.

Lopez most recently had a voice role in “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.” Cyrus next stars alongside his daughter, Miley, in “Hannah Montana: The Movie.”

Valletta has appeared in “Hitch,” and “Transporter 2,” while Boecher appeared in episodes of AMC’s “Mad Men” and TNT’s “The Closer.”

The Weinstein Company lays off 24 people
Jack Rico
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By

2008/11/24 at 12:00am

Movies

The Weinstein Company lays off 24 people

11.24.2008 | By |

The Weinstein Company lays off 24 people

Recently we heard many conversations about Hollywood being recession-proof. Doesn’t look like that’s the case for big honcho Harvey Weinstein, owner of The Weinsten Company. This goes to show you that no one is escaping the topsy-turvy times of the economy.

The Weinstein Co. has succumbed to the economic pressure by laying off 11% of its staff, or 24 people.

The indie outfit is slimming down from 224 people to 200. The cuts affected all departments in offices in Gotham, L.A., the U.K. and Hong Kong.

No offices or departments are being shuttered. Staffers were notified of the layoffs Friday afternoon.

Formed three years ago by Harvey and Bob Weinstein with more than $1 billion in backing from Goldman Sachs and other investors, TWC has had a bumpy ride. After a spate of deals across the media spectrum yielded spotty results, the company refocused on its film slate and has touted its official detachment in January from distrib partner MGM and a pay TV deal with Showtime.

The Weinstein slate, however, has not borne a lot of fruit. “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” the Kevin Smith-helmed comedy released on Halloween, is the latest under-performer. Woody Allen’s “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” is the only notable pic to far exceed expectations in 2008.

As the company seeks to get into a theatrical groove, it’s also been hit with a wave of staff turnover. Senior-level vets Glen Basner (international sales), Michelle Krumm (production) and Maeva Gatineau (U.K. acquisitions) are among those who have exited in recent months.

Matthew Frankel, who spent just a few months heading corporate communications, departed in the spring (he’s since resurfaced at AOL) and has not officially been replaced.

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